Iconic Shows for each Troupe

Posted by deboomon Sat 01 of Sep, 2018 19:04 PDT
posts: 26
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Hey everyone,

I have some free time this weekend and was hoping to flex my music theory muscles by studying some iconic revues. In order to pair it down, as nearly all of them are amazing, I was wondering if folks could help me compile a list of revue "series" that one exist in one troupe. For example, "Citrus Wind I/II/II/Sunrise" for sora, or perhaps "Enter the Revue" or "Exciter!/!!/2018" for hana. I was hoping for revues that transcend top stars, *but* remain in one troupe. I'm curious if each series has their own sound, through genre, key, etc. that informs a troupe's style, or if they perhaps the first revue in a series have similarities that define them as good for a "series".

Oh interesting! I hadn't heard of the Revue series before, I'll definitely have to check it out. (Hopefully I can find a recording from '77) Honestly I think it'd be just as interesting to look into a series like the Fancy one as well. I noticed that The Entertainer and Super Voyager have a shockingly similar format, then heard they were the same director on the podcast lol! So seeing a director's style over time might be fun too. I'm curious to see Beautiful Garden now and see if he changes it up.

This is probably not what you were looking for since they are not by the same troupe, but I thought of "The Revue" series (ザ・レビュー). "The Revue" (1977 - Snow and then Flower), "The Revue II" (1984 - Moon), "The Revue III" (1985 - Star), "The Revue '99" (1999 - Cosmos and then Flower) and "The Revue IV" (2000 - Flower).

Actually I have not watched any of them, and only know something because I like collecting the Takarazuka Theme Songs Collection CDs and noticed various versions of "The Revue" songs. Also, "The Revue II" was where the classic song "Takarazuka Forever" came from (me being a fan of Daichi Mao's singing).

As for shows in the same troupe, I can only think of "Dramatic S" (Snow 2017) where the emphasis shifted from "S" to "D" after Chigi's retirement and handover to Daimon, and "Jazzmania" (Moon 2000 to 2002; Makoto Tsubasa to Shibuki Jun).

This is a great question. I think you could also learn a lot from the revue shows which have been performed by different troupes; seeing how they adapted it differently.

I always tend to see more similarities between shows done by the same director, regardless of troupe. Most directors seem to have favorite composers and choreographers, which tends to give their shows similarities, no matter who is performing. Like Miki Akio's fancy series ("Fancy Touch" (Flower '92), "Fancy Dance" (Moon '07), "Fancy Guy" (Snow '15)). Or they even have favorite Senka members who are in all their shows, like Ogita-sensei and Yashiro Kou.

I'll be looking forward to seeing what kinds of suggestions everyone has for you!